Wisdom arises when you see the true characteristics of phenomena through direct experience.

Insight knowledge comes from direct experience, not from intellectual understanding.

Zen in its essence is the art of seeing into the nature of one's own being, and it points the way from bondage to freedom.

Dependent origination is not a theory about the origin of the world but a teaching that shows how suffering originates in dependence on our own mental processes.

Meditation is not about getting away from it all. It's about getting into it all.

Zen teaches nothing; it merely enables us to wake up and become aware. It does not teach, it points.

The nature of mind is not something we need to achieve - it's something we need to recognize.

Don't be a bodhisatta; don't be an arahant; don't be anything at all. Being something makes you suffer.

The greatest achievement is selflessness. The greatest worth is self-mastery.

Give the ones you love wings to fly, roots to come back, and reasons to stay.

Intrinsically all living beings are Buddhas, just as ice and water are of the same substance.

The meaning of life is just to be alive. It is so plain and so obvious and so simple. And yet, everybody rushes around in a great panic as if it were necessary to achieve something beyond themselves.

Enlightenment is intimacy with all things.

Personal experience is everything in Zen. No ideas are intelligible to those who have no backing of experience.

The mind is the source of all happiness and the source of all suffering.

Meditation is the road to happiness.

Sleep is the best meditation.

Through violence, you may solve one problem, but you sow the seeds for another.

Be a lamp unto yourself. Work out your liberation with diligence.

The most important thing is to enjoy your life - to be happy. This is the goal of Buddhist practice.

Treat every moment as your last. It is not preparation for something else.

The superior person is like water, bringing benefit to all without competing.

To live fully is to let go and die with each step.

As long as you seek for something, you will get the shadow of reality and not reality itself.

To think in terms of either pessimism or optimism oversimplifies the truth. The problem is to see reality as it is.

Whatever we do, we should see ourselves. Reading books doesn't show us our defilements. Watch yourself. Watch your mind.

Just as parents care for their children, you should bear in mind the whole universe.

The essence of the spiritual journey is the uncovering of what is always already present.

The archer ceases to be conscious of himself as the one who is engaged in hitting the bull's-eye which confronts him. This state of unconsciousness is realized only when, completely empty and rid of the self, he becomes one with the perfecting of his technical skill.

The most important factor in achieving happiness is the mind. Happiness and suffering are mental states and therefore depend on the mind.

The biggest prison is the one we build in our own mind.

The planet does not need more successful people. The planet desperately needs more peacemakers, healers, restorers, storytellers, and lovers of all kinds.

The path of awakening is not about becoming who you are. Rather it is about unbecoming who you are not.